A beautifully written and plotted police procedural from a rising star in the genre who has delivered a game-changing fourth book: 'Claire Askew takes us away from the obvious plot and asks us tantalising questions ... an absorbing, thought-provoking entry into crime fiction' - The Times
At 8am the first shots are fired.
At 1pm, the police establish the gunman has a hostage.
By 5pm, a siege is underway.
At 9pm, DI Helen Birch walks, alone and unarmed, into an abandoned Borders farmhouse to negotiate with the killer.
One day. One woman. One chance to get everyone out alive.
The outstanding new novel from the highly acclaimed author of All the Hidden Truths and What You Pay For - both shortlisted for the CWA Golden Dagger.
A breathless, real-time, 24-style thriller that combines nail-biting tension with boundless compassion - Erin Kelly
Tell Jack Bauer he's been supplanted . . . taut - The i newspaper
Claire Askew's debut novel All The Hidden Truths won the 2016 Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize as a work in progress, and the 2019 McIlvanney Debut Crime Fiction Award. Two of her novels have been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger. Her fourth novel, A Matter of Time, was longlisted for the McIlvanney Crime Novel of the Year 2022. Claire is also a poet and non-fiction writer and she lives in Carlisle.